Colombia's imprisoned paramilitary warlords July 24 announced an end to cooperation with prosecutors investigating massacres and other atrocities, throwing into question the country's peace process. The move was taken to protest the July 11 ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice that paramilitary fighters and "parapolíticos" (politicians who collaborate with the paras) are not automatically charged with "sedition"—meaning politically motivated violence, carrying reduced penalties under the legislation establishing the peace process. The peace process has led to the disarmament of some 31,000 paramilitary fighters, but has not yet secured reparations for their victims or won major confessions from some 60 imprisoned warlords.

Colombia has offered to host US military operations currently run out of Ecuador, once the lease for the base there expires in two years, according to a senior Pentagon official who spoke to reporters in July. Such a change would consolidate Colombia's position as the Latin American country most militarized by the United States.

The Wayuu indigenous people of Venezuela sent a message saluting the "Encuentro of the Pueblos Zapatistas with the Peoples of the World," which has just opened at the village of Oventic in Chiapas, Mexico. The message was harshly critical of the Hugo Chávez government, which it accused of "continuing the neoliberal policies" under the guise of a "double discourse," indicating a "lack of respect for the [indigenous] communities, a manipulation, and in the final accounting, a genocide." It said the Venezuelan state "has blocked with the transnational imperialists to enter indigenous territories throughout the country to exploit mineral, hydrocarbon, gas and petroleum resources, against the wishes and the decisions of the indigenous communities of Venezuela." (La Jornada, July 20)

Labor unrest, infrastructure problems and charges of corruption at Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA have reached the point of a "significant operational emergency," PDVSA vice president for exploration and production Luis Vierma told the National Assembly's comptroller committee July 18. The warnings of crisis come just as PDVSA is embarking on an ambitious course of taking greater control over Venezuela's oil industry from foreign companies.

At least one million people—more than two million, according to some sources—marched in El Alto, Bolivia, on July 20 to call for national unity and to oppose proposals to move the executive and legislative branches of government from La Paz, the de facto capital, to the southern city of Sucre. Although no government officials spoke at the demonstration, in the evening President Evo Morales called the mobilization "historic"; analysts considered it the country's largest demonstration in recent years. The media nicknamed it the "Pacenazo" (from La Paz), while participants called it a cabildo (a public discussion, like a town hall meeting).

Global warming is drying up mountain lakes and wetlands in the Andes and threatening water supplies to such major cities as La Paz, Quito and Bogota, World Bank research reveals. The risk is especially great to the high-Andes wetlands known as páramo, which supplies 80 percent of the water to Bogota's 7 million people. Rising temperatures are causing clouds to condense at higher altitudes. Eventually this so-called "dew point" will miss the mountains altogether, said World Bank climate change specialist in Latin America, Walter Vergara. "We're already seeing a drying up of these mountain lakes and wetlands. We're seeing that the dew point is going up the mountain," he said of the World Bank-funded research at Colombia's Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies. (Reuters, July 20)

Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante—known as "Rasguño," or "Scratch"—alleged head of Colombia's Norte del Valle cocaine cartel, has been extradited to the US to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. He was flown by helicopter July 19 from the Combita maximum security prison to an air base near Bogota, where he was turned over to DEA agents. Norte del Valle rose to become Colombia's most powerful narco mafia after the dismantling of the Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1990s. Colonel Cesar Pinzon, head of Colombia's Judicial Police (DIJIN), called Gomez the "capo of capos." The DEA says he was the source up to 60% of all cocaine consumed in the US. Gomez got his nickname when he laughed off a bullet wound to his cheek as "just a scratch." He was first arrested in Cuba in July 2004 after entering on a false passport, and returned to Colombia six months ago. (BBC, July 20)

Indigenous people in Bolivia are marching cross-country from the lowland city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra to the judicial capital, Sucre, where the country's Constituent Assembly is meeting. About 400 men, women and children from the tropical zone's ethnicities, led by the Confederation of Indigenous People of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB), launched their 608-kilometer march this weekend. CIDOB leader Adolfo Chávez said the marchers will take their demands for autonomy for indigenous peoples to the Assembly, which has been hashing out a new constitution for Bolivia since it opened in August 2006.